The NBA released the 2013-14 schedule Tuesday, and among the notable matchups for Celtics fans is when Rivers and his Clippers visit TD Garden on Dec. 11 and when the new-look Nets, featuring Pierce and Garnett, come to town for the first time Jan. 26. The Nets play at the Garden again March 7.

Brad Stevens and the C’s open their slate Oct. 30 against the Raptors in Toronto, then come home to play the Bucks two nights later.

Other circle dates include a Jan. 2 contest at the Bulls, which would be the first time Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose face off in nearly two years after both suffered ACL tears. It also serves as the team’s only Thursday night TNT game.

What may be the most interesting four-day stretch comes in mid-December. It starts when the Knicks, who ended the Celtics’ season in May, host Boston Dec. 8, and continues when the Nets do the same two days later at the Barclays Center ‘ the first regular-season matchup between the teams. The very next night, Dec. 11, happens to be when Rivers and the Clippers play at the Garden.

This season could also prove to be a bit of a grind ‘ even more so than most ‘ with the Celtics staring at playing on consecutive nights 20 times, which is actually two fewer than they had last season. Six of those back-to-backs will come in November, when they play a season-high 18 games.

In a change from recent years, the Celtics are not only not playing on Christmas, but they also have five days off Dec. 23-27.

While the Celtics have yet to release their preseason schedule for the 2013-14 NBA season, the Nets revealed that the two teams will each host a game against each other in October (h/t Red’s Army).

Brooklyn will play host to the C’s at the Barclays Center on Oct. 15, but the real event takes place eight days later, when Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett (oh, and Jason Terry) don black and white for the first time in Boston on Oct. 23.

The regular-season schedule, which commences on Oct. 29, is scheduled to be announced on Friday.

The players, officially traded from the Celtics last week, were welcomed to New York and met the media and some fans alongside new Nets coach Jason Kidd and general manager Billy King. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov stopped by at the end of the press conference.

Pierce lamented having to leave Boston after spend the first 15 years of his NBA career with the Celtics, but he said he was pleased to have another opportunity to compete for a title.

“It’s tough when you’ve been in a situation like me for 15 years and you come to an organization such as the Brooklyn Nets. But when you look at it, what they’re trying to do here, win a championship, bring in the pieces necessary, new arena, new owners, new excitement — it really brings a little bit of excitement,” he said.

“Obviously I would have loved to end my career in Boston. But that day and age is probably over with with a lot of players ending their careers in one city. When the trade happened, you felt excited, especially with Kevin and Jason coming along. That will make the situation — not only for me, but each other — more comfortable.

“The ultimate drive is winning a championship. Obviously Boston is going in a different direction. And at this point in our careers, we’re championship-driven. We’ve made a lot of money in our careers, we’ve won a number of awards. I think at this point right now we’re all about winning a championship. And Brooklyn, we feel, gives us the best opportunity.”

Garnett waived his no-trade clause to accept the move, which he said he did only after he “sat down and let the dust sort of settle” so that he could make his decision “with a clear mind and a clear head of what I wanted to do.”

“It’s unfortunate we had to obviously move from Boston,” Garnett said. “But I felt like both sides are going in different directions. For me, one of the major reasons I decided to come here was because the bones of this — I feel like adding what you see up here with the bones of what they have already, with Brook [Lopez] and Deron [Williams] and all the pieces they have here, Joe [Johnson] — I feel like Paul said, this gives us the best option to win again, to win it all. I’m embracing this opportunity, my family’s embracing this opportunity. I’m looking forward to it.”

The 35-year-old native of Long Beach, Calif., is returning closer to home after joining Mark Jackson‘s coaching staff with the Warriors. Scalabrine also is working as a spokesperson with 2 Gingers Irish Whiskey, and he served up the popular ‘Big Ginger’ cocktail behind the bar to excited patrons for three hours at Granary Tavern on Tuesday night in Boston.

‘Scal’ also sat down for a one-on-one interview with WEEI.com, and the former Celtic and Comcast SportsNet broadcaster shared his insight on topics ranging from the Celtics‘ championship in 2008, the bitter loss to the Lakers in 2010, and the work Danny Ainge has performed this summer. Scalabrine also quieted any speculation that he was in the running to replace Doc Rivers as coach in Boston.

“If four people would have passed on the Celtics, then I would have been interviewed to be the coach of the Celtics,” Scalabrine said. “But there’s no way four people were going to pass on that.”

Scalabrine was eager to share how greatly he evolved as a basketball player during his time with the Celtics.

“You have to look around at what you have,” he said. “That year [in 2007-08], we had Kevin Garnett directly from Minnesota coming in and changing the culture of our organization. He made sure guys were ready and focused. We could have fun in the locker room and joke around, but when it came to game time or practice, or the weight room or your individual time, it was time to lock in and get serious. Later on, on the bus or the plane, that’s when we could joke around. At the end of the day, we were about winning. We were about being successful.”

Winning a championship on a team driven by the likes of Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen helped Scalabrine perfect his own philosophy on the game of basketball.

“I’m about having success in life, but also having fun. There’s a misconception that I joke around and I’m not serious about the game of basketball. I’m ultra-serious about the game. I like the challenge of working with young guys, making them better, and getting them ready for a championship-caliber type of team. It’s not about getting better so you can be mediocre. I’m about getting you better so we can win a championship. That’s my focus.”

It was Rondo who was so offended with a Humphries hard foul on Kevin Garnett in mid-air that the Celtics point guard went after the 6-foot-10 big man and started a fracas under the Celtics basket.

On Monday, it took just three questions before Humphries was asked if he thinks bygones will be bygones and if he can actually work in harmony know with the Celtics tempestuous point guard.

“I knew it was coming; it just took a few questions to get there,” Humphries joked before offering a serious answer.

“I haven’t talked to him but I think we’ll have a good relationship,” he said. “I think things happen within the game. Looking at it, it really was nothing. The media tends to blow things out of proportion. Obviously I just have to do my part to earn his respect in terms of playing hard and contributing to the team and just go from there.”

Humphries was given two technical fouls and ejected from the game on Nov. 28, 2012, won by Brooklyn, 95-83. Brooklyn forward Gerald Wallace was given one technical for joining in, but since it was his second of the game he was also ejected. Garnett was given one technical foul but was not ejected.

The only Celtics player ejected was Rondo, who with only three assists, saw his streak of 37 consecutive games with at least 10 assists end that night due to the ejection. That mark tied him with John Stockton for second-longest in NBA history.

The fracas started when Humphries fouled Garnett, pushing him to the floor as he shot from the right baseline. Rondo shoved Humphries, sending the melee into the stands.

WALTHAM — The way Danny Ainge looks at it, trading away future hall of famers in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett along came down to taking advantage of a team desperate to build its own “Dream Team.”

That’s why, according to the Celtics president of basketball operations, he pulled the trigger earlier this month on a deal that sends the two stars to Brooklyn for Gerald Wallace, MarShon Brooks, Keith Bogans and Kris Humphries.

“Brooklyn showed a great deal of interest in putting the ‘Dream Team’ together, with expense not [a factor], at any cost it seemed like,” Ainge told reporters at an introductory press conference Monday. “And the opportunity to acquire a lot of young assets and get younger and move onto a different phase presented itself. We felt like, where we were as a team, it was going to be very difficult to be a championship contender [had] we kept Paul and KG.

“The opportunity presented itself. It’s a situation we needed to do. It’s a situation that Brooklyn should do and could do, adding Paul and KG to a roster with already three All-Star type players. It’s a pretty special opportunity for them, even though it’s very expensive.”

Jason Terry was also unloaded in the deal that reshapes the Celtics roster for years to come. Was there another team that challenged the Nets in acquiring the trio?

“You don’t really want to trade to a division rival but no, there were no other teams that were even close,” Ainge admitted. “As a matter of fact, it was interesting that the offers we got for Paul and KG were greater than we got for them in years past. It was an opportunity we felt we had to jump at.”

Was it hard for Ainge to pull the trigger in the end?

“Absolutely,” Ainge said when asked. “I think it pretty much goes without saying, and there’ll be many opportunities to talk about their legacies, and I know this is not my decision alone to make, but if it were my decision alone, their numbers will be hanging from the rafters some day. Their legacy has been made here in Boston. They still have basketball left in them but at the same time, we’re going to want to beat them. But those guys were great for the city of Boston, great for the Boston Celtics franchise and great for all of us who were associated with them.

“But this is a good deal for us. We’re excited about the players we’re getting and we’re excited about the opportunity for us to start fresh and start over, not completely over because we have a lot of good players returning and a lot of good players acquired in teh trade but start over in terms of a new coaching staff, new players and a new identity.”

A fifth player the Celtics received in the deal – Kris Joseph – was waived on Monday.

The only surprise is forward D.J. White‘s inclusion in the deal that will send Pierce, Garnett and Jason Terry to Brooklyn. White signed a $1.03 million non-guaranteed deal for 2013-14.

Meanwhile, Kris Humphries ($12 million) officially becomes the highest-paid Celtic, joining Gerald Wallace, Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks and Kris Joseph in Boston. More importantly, the C’s acquired Brooklyn’s first-round draft picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 as well as the option to swap No. 1 picks with the Nets in the 2017 draft.

‘We would like to thank Paul, Kevin, and Jason for everything that they have done for this franchise,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said in a press release. “We would not have won Banner 17 without Paul and Kevin and they will go down amongst the all-time great players to have ever worn a Celtics uniform. At the same time we are excited to welcome Gerald, Kris, Keith, MarShon and Kris to the Celtics family. They bring a wealth of talent, experience, depth, and flexibility to our team.’

Excited, huh?

‘We are really excited to welcome Gerald, Kris, Keith, MarShon and Kris to the Celtics organization,’ Celtics coach Brad Stevens added in the release. ‘They collectively bring a great deal of versatility, unique skill sets and production to our roster. I cannot wait to get to work with them.’

Excited, I guess.

Believe it or not, the Nets were pretty excited themselves about landing Pierce, Garnett and Terry.

‘Today, the basketball gods smiled on the Nets,” Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a separate press release. “With the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, we have achieved a great balance on our roster between veteran stars and young talents. This team will be dazzling to watch, and tough to compete against.”

‘We are excited to welcome Kevin, Paul and Jason to Brooklyn’ added Brooklyn GM Billy King. ‘All three players have championship pedigree and posses the veteran qualities that will make us a stronger team.’